State Senator Jeff Klein Accused of Forcibly Kissing Staffer

Updated: Jan 11, 9:30 A.M.

The leader of the Independent Democrats in the New York state senate, Jeff Klein, is accused of forcibly kissing a staffer in 2015. 

According to HuffPost, Erica Vladimer, 30, said Klein shoved his tongue into her mouth outside an Albany bar in the early morning hours after the state budget passed in 2015. A month later, Vladimer told HuffPost, she resigned.

Klein and his colleague and romantic partner, state Sen. Diane Savino, issued a preemptive strike by holding a conference call for reporters before the story was published. Klein said the incident did not occur.

“I want to be crystal clear,” said Klein, who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester. “This alleged incident never happened, nor did anything inappropriate happen that evening in any fashion. Period.”

Vladimer has a different story. She said she and six to eight other IDC staff members, including Klein and Savino, were getting drinks the night the state budget was approved. Vladimer and Klein went outside to smoke a cigarette and then he kissed her.

“I pulled away and I said, ‘Senator, absolutely not,’” she told HuffPost. “And he looked at me and said, with this stupid little grin on his face, ‘What? What?’ Like he was being coy, almost trying to flirt and play a game.”

Klein says the staffer never filed a formal complaint against him, and praised him in her letter of resignation. 

Savino says she was with him the entire evening, and says there would “have been an incident” had the alleged kissing occurred in front of her.

“Those of you who know me, know that I would not have remained silent,” said Savino.

Klein is the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, a break-away faction that has helped keep Republicans in power in the senate since 2012. Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island, is also a member of the IDC.

Both senators said they remember the staffer asking Klein about his plans for the upcoming Passover Holiday. They say she asked Klein if he wanted to attend her family’s holiday meal, which Klein says he politely declined. Klein agrees that he later smoked a cigarette outside the bar and conversed with the staffer. But he says that was the end of the interaction.

Vladimer, currently on staff at the city Independent Budget Office, could not immediately be reached for comment by WNYC. She told HuffPost that no one witnessed the encounter with Klein. The publication also interviewed a friend of Vladimer's who said Vladimer was upset and told her what happened when she arrived at her apartment later that morning.

Late Wednesday, Klein’s lawyers released a memo based on a “preliminary investigation” that said Vladimer had been drinking that night, invited Klein to a Passover seder at her family’s home and had earlier that month indicated that she already found a new job. (Full memo below)

The rest of the members of Klein’s Independent Democratic Conference issued a statement in support of their leader. Senators David Valesky, David Carlucci, Tony Avella, Jesse Hamilton, Jose Peralta and Marisol Alcantara say they have "complete confidence" in Klein, and say the allegations are "completely out of character" for the Senate Leader, who they say is a "longtime champion for women."

Governor Cuomo weighed in, saying "this disturbing situation should be investigated, and I believe it should be done immediately and independently."

The State Senate has not yet said whether it will launch an ethics investigation.

Memo on Lawyer's Preliminary Investigation into Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Sen. Jeff Klein by Jennifer Vanasco on Scribd